Door-latch structure



Feb E2 [9290 1,701,932

R. A. NELSON DOOR LATCH STRUCTURE Filed May 1928 l mented Feb. 12,1929..

ITED STATES when PATENT OFFlfiE.

ROY A. NELSON, 0F CEICAGU, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 CHICAGO RAILWAYEQUIPMENT COMPANY, 015 GEICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

. DOOR-LATCH STRUCTURE.

Application filed May 2, 1928. Serial No. 274,554.

may be secured to the side plate and side sill forming portions of thedoor frame. Usually the door is formed of two sections, the jamb beingpermanently secured to the edge of one section and that section beingadapted to remain in closed position when it is feasible to utilize thesmall opening provided by the other section, the jamb being detachablefrom the sill and plate and movable with the section to which it isapplied to open position when it is desired to use the fulldoor-opening.

Doors of this type are usually heavy and, due to the rough usageencountered, the securing mechanism is also heavy and, moreover, isdesigned to hold the door engaged with the sill and plate by the weightof the mechanism. Hence, when it is desired to open the door, it isfrequently necessary to require one man to hold the latching mechanismin inoperative position and to require another man to move the door onits track.

The main objects of my invention are to provide a simple efiicient doorlatching mechanism and to provide means associated with the latchingmechanism which will automatically function when the latching mechanismis unlatched to hold the latching mechanism in unlatchcdposition whilethe door is being opened and which will automatically be renderedinoperative when the door is returned to closed position, thereby per-.mitting the latching mechanism to function.

These and other detailed objects of my invention are attained in thestructure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, 1n

which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the jambstructure and associated parts of the car flooring, and it will beunderstood that this section extends longitudinally of the car and door.The'section is takenon line 11 of Figure 2.

a Figure 2 is a vertical. transverse section through the door and carframing and showing the door j amb and latching mechanism in elevation.This section is taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 3. i

Figure 3 is a horizontal section through the door and adjacent carframing.

Figure 4 is a detail section, through the upper portion of the latchingmechanism and corresponds to the section shown in Figure 1 butillustrates the parts in a difi'erent position.

Figure 5 is a detail section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a detail section taken on line 6-43 of Figure l. v V

Figure? is a detail illustrating a modified structure which will bedescribed hereafter.

The car sill 1, flooring '2, side plate 3, door track 4, brackets 5therefor, roller bearings 6, door body sections 7 and 8, guide angle 9,

and door posts 10 are all of usual well-known construction and form nopart of my present lnvention.

The jamb 11 is bolted to the door section by bar 13, the latter having ahook 17 atits lower end for engaging latch 15 in front. of the latchpivot and having a fork 18 at its upper end for engaging latch 16 at therear of the latch pivot. The intermediate portion of bar 13 is providedwith a handhold 19 and it is obvious that raising the bar will movelatch 15 upwardly and will move latch 16 downwardly.

The latches 15 and 16 are mounted in suit able housings33 and 34provided on the lower and upper portions of the jamb, re

spectively. Housing 33 includes side walls 45 and a transversecylindrical wall 44 having an axially disposed bar 35. the lower face ofwhich is flattened as best shown in Figure 1. Latch 15 has a curved lip36 adapted to'be inserted horizontally into the space between the flatside of bar 35 and the adjacent wall 44 of the housing 33 when the latchis tilted upwardly to a greater extent than is ossible when the latchand bar 13 are assemb ed and the movement of the bar 13 limited by thebrackets 14 adjacent to its handle 19.

Latch 16 is similarly assembled with housing 34 and this assembly of thelatches with their housings avoids the use of bolts or other retainingmeans. Suitable ledges 37 on housing33 limit the downward movement oflatch and similar'ledges are provided on housing 34 for limiting theupward movement of latch 16. These ribs limit the movement of theoperating bar 13.

The inner side of housing 33 is provided with ribs 38 on which a roller39 is journaled a slight distance above the car floor and any sagging orteetering of the door will be counteracted by the engagement of roller39 with the car floor.

Secured to the car sill and plate near the position of the jamb when thedoor is closed are stop castings or pressings 20 and 21, respectively.The lower stop 20 includes an inclined portion 22 and a recess 23, oneedge of which forms a catch for latch 15. The upper stop 21 includesspaced inclined portions 24 and correspondingly spaced upright surfaces25 forming catch elements for latch 16. When the door is moved to closedposition, the forward end of latch 15 rides up inclined portion 22 ofstop 20 until the latch drops into recess 23.

Latch 16 comprises spaced lugs 26 and a forwardly projecting tongue 27between them. When the door is moved to closed position, the lugs 26ride down the inclined portions 24 of stop 21 until these lugs are freeto move upwardly to engage elements 25.

Associated with stop 21 is a latch holding device comprising a ball 28mounted in an inclined runway 30 in stop 21 and held against separationfrom the stop by slightly contracting the ends of the runway.

The normal position of the latch 16, when the door is closed, isindicated in full lines in Figure 1, in which ball 28 is at the lowerend of its runway 30 and is resting against the forward face of tongue27 on the latch 16. When bar 13 is raised, swinging latch 16 in ananti-clockwise direction about its pivot, tongue 27 will move to thedot-and-dash line position shown in Figure 1, during such movementthrusting ball 28 to the left and, at the end of such movement,permitting ball 28 to return to the position shown in which it engagesthe upwardly facing outer end 31 of tongue 27 and preventing upwardmovement of the latch since the line of thrust is at right angles to theelement 82 of the runway which is immediately above ball 28 in thisposition. 1

As the door is moved from its closed position the latch lugs 26 slidablyengage the lower faces 42 of sto 21 before tongue 31 leaves ball 28 andthe latch lugs 26 then ride up the inclined portion 24 of stop 21.

As the door is returned to closed position (see Figure 4), the tongue 27engages the ball 28 as indicated, thrusting the latter along itsinclined runway 30, the tongue 27 being held against downward movementby the weight of the bar 13 on the opposite end of latch 16. As soon aslugs 26 have passed the lower edge of catch elements 25, the latch 16automatically moves into catch-engaging position, as shown in Figure 1,due to the weight of bar 13.

It will be understood that the manual oper ation of bar 13 and that theholding of latch 16 in depressed position by ball 28 also control theposition of lower latch 15.

Since the opening 23 in stop 20 will admit loose material to theinterior of the stop, I prefer to provide the latter with a lateralopening 40 which will permit escape of any material entering the stop.

The jamb is adapted for all steel construction as well as for woodendoors or wood and steel combinations, and the door may be used on otherstructures besides railway cars, such, for instance, as on warehouses,in vaults, or, in fact, wherever conditions are present in which thedescribed structure could be advantageously employed.

In theconstruction shown in Figure 7, the lower housing 46 has sidewalls 47 and a transverse wall 48 curved about the cross bar 49. The bar49. is located nearer to the open side of the housing than in thestructure shown in Figure 1 and when the latch 50 is swung upwardly tothe dot-and-dash line position indicated, it may be removed fromengagement with bar 49. This arrangement eliminates the necessity offlattening the bar 49 or providing different distances between the barand the wall 48 in any other manner.

Obviously the details of my invention may be varied without departingfrom the spirit thereof, and I contemplate the exclusive use of allmodifications which come within the scope of my claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a door frame mounted element, a door mounted latchmember for engagement with said element, and means associated with saidelement and adapted to automatically hold said latch from suchengagement when the latter is moved from such engagement.

2. In combination, a door frame mounted catch element, a door mountedlatch member for engagement with said catch element, and means mountedon said catch element for antomatically holding said latch member out ofengagement with said catch element, when said member is moved from suchengagement, until the door on which it is mounted is moved to openposition, said means being adapted to be moved out of operating positionby said latch member when said door is moved to closed position.

3. In combination, a door frame, a catch element thereon, a door movabletoward and from said element, a latch niovably mounted .on said door andadapted to engage said element to hold the door in place, and means onsaid frame operating automatically when said latch is retracted fromsaid engagement to hold the latch retracted until said door is movedaway from said catch element.

4-. In combination, a door-frame, a catch element thereon, a doormovable toward and from said element, a latch movably mounted on saiddoor and adapted to engage said ele ment to hold the door in place,means on said frame operating automatically when said latch is retractedfrom said engagement to hold the latch retracted until said door ismoved away from said catch element, and an element on said door adaptedto render said means inoperative when said door is again moved towardsaid catch element.

5. In combination, a member adapted to be mounted on a door frame andincluding a catch, a device associated with said member and movable bygravity into position adjacent said catch, a latch adapted to be mountedupon a door and having a movement in one direction into pbsitionadjacent to said catch member and having another movement in an- .otherdirection to engage with said catch member, said latch including anelement adapted, during said first movement, to move said device fromthe path of said latch during said second movement thereof.

6. In a door stop and latch engaging device, a catch element, and amember mounted on the body of said device so as to move automatically toand from a position adjacent to said catch element to prevent movementof a latch in one direction into engagement with said catch element.

7 In a door latch holding device, a body having an inclined runway, acatch element adjacent to said runway, and a gravity-operated member onsaid runway adapted to prevent the movement of a latch into engagementwith said catch element until after said member has been positivelymoved away from said catch element. v

8. In a door latch holding device, a body having an inclined runway, acatch element adjacent to said runway, and a gravity-operated member onsaid runway adapted to prevent the movement of a latch in one directioninto engagement with said catch element until after said latch has movedin another direction to move said member away from said catch element.

. 9. In a member adapted to be mounted on a door frame, an upright latchengaging surface, an inclined runway terminating near its lower end infront of said surface, and a rolling element confined between the endsof said runway, there being a horizontal top section in front of saidsurface with a short horizonv tal upper side near its lower end, arolling element in said runway adapted to positively engage said sideand the top of said projection when said hook is moved downwardly" fromengagement with said surface, "to hold said hook down until said memberis moved horizontally away from said stop, said projection being adaptedto move said element up said inclined runway in front of said projectionwhen said member is moved horiribntally toward said stop.

11. In combination, a door latch housing having side walls, a cross barbetween said walls, and a transverse wall extending about said cross barbut spaced therefrom, and a latch having a lip extending about said barbetween the same and said wall, the distance between a portion of saidbar and the adjacent portion of said transverse wall being greater thanthe corresponding distance elsewhere to provide for insertion andremoval of said latch when the outer end of said lip is adjacent to saidbar and wall portions.

12. In combination, a door latch housing having side walls, a roundcross barbetween said walls and integral therewith, and a curvedtransverse wall extending about said cross bar but spaced therefrom, anda latch having a curved lip extending about said bar and between thesame and said wall, one side of said bar being flattened whereby, whensaid latch is in one angular position, said lip may be inserted betweensaid bar and transverse wall, or removed therefrom, by a straight linemovement to or from said bar.

13. In combination, a door latch housing having sides, a cross barbetween said sides, a transverse member extending partway about said barbut spaced therefrom, and a latch having a lip extending partway aboutsaid bar to pivot the latch thereon, said transverse member and barbeing arranged to retain said lip against movement away from said barthroughout an arc of pivotal movement of said latch about said bar andto accommodate such movement throughout a dif ferent are of pivotalmovement.

in testimony wherof ll hereunto afix my signature this 27th day ofApril, 1928.

BUY A. NELSUN.

